tiger moms try harder

In a society that wastes its human capital and only rewards exceptional achievement, in a nation-state where it is the so-called public school system that overrides parental control and input, in a country where we honor the pirates that have captured corporations and are sacking them regularly, and especially in a place where corporations have more rights than individuals and families, where money has corrupted the political system so that we now have two parties representing corporate interests, it is always heartening to grasp that it is actually bad parents at the root of our problems. (Bad parents can too strict or too permissive, take your pick.)

Consequently, some training for US parents on what it takes to make sure a family succeeds in a nation-state that does not control inequality nor provide a social safety net.  Children had better be achievers when there is no functioning healthcare system, little social security and no pensions for most, and jobs that can be exported easily.  Only achievers have any hope of getting somewhere, in a system designed to rank, grade, sort and cull out the topmost layer. (We throw the rest away, like the bran layer of the wheat and the skins of vegetables and the fruits that are too bumpy or irregular or bruised.)

So maybe talented and hard-working immigrants from one of the largest nation-states to emerge from kingship in the 20th century, where many valiant people survived civil war and totalitarian rule after extreme inequality festered too long, can show us what survival skills strong people can muster to survive and ensure success.  

I guess we are going to need them. 

No More Mrs. Nice Mom is an NYT piece after the electric piece by Chua in the WSJ a preview of her memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.  I'm not going to jump into the debate on Chua's parenting: there is plenty of discussion out there.   Maybe she's joking.  I do feel that Ms. Chua should refrain from writing too extensively on democracy. 

(And don't miss Gene Luen Yang's cartoon Are You Tiger Dad Material? )